Thursday, March 13, 2008

Forever young


Today is Mama's birthday, but I cannot (will not) say how old she would be. Her adamant refusal to reveal her age persisted to the end, and to this day, we are not absolutely certain that the information on her death certificate is correct; at her insistence, her birth year is not on her cemetery marker. Though we always accepted this little subterfuge as an endearing peccadillo, it could, at times, be exasperating. Even just months before she died, when we would take her to the doctor, and she was asked to sign in with her name and date of birth, she'd refuse, saying that her age was no one's business but her own.

She did always look much younger than she was, which she enjoyed, but it went deeper than that. She had an eternally youthful spirit and outlook on life, and could communicate with young people more as a contemporary than as a grandmother. Her stubborn rejection of her physical years was not so much vanity as it was an unwillingness to be categorized as older than she felt.

2 comments:

jackie said...

Happy Birthday Mimi.

glenda and griffin said...

My sentiments exactly
Your mother would have been my hero.
You are not only as young as you feel, but your outlook on life can make or break you.
I saw a picture in yesterday's Highlands paper of someone who just died. She looked 85 but was only 57.
Take care and God bless
glenda and griffin